Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) apparatus have many advantages, including ultra-thin, low cost, low-power consumption, wide viewing-angle, all solid-state, self-emitting, low driving voltage, and flexible display, etc. Thus, the OLED apparatuss are a new generation display apparatus technology. Currently, curved-OLED display products are becoming more popular.
In an OLED apparatus, in order to prevent the organic tandem structure (the OLED light-emitting unit) from being eroded by water and oxygen, the OLED apparatus needs to be packaged. Usually, the organic tandem structure and the metal electrodes are formed on a substrate firstly; and then the organic tandem structure and the metal electrodes are packaged. That is, a packaging structure is formed on the substrate having the organic tandem structure and the metal electrodes; and the packaging structure and the substrate form a sealed structure. Thus, the organic tandem structure and the metal electrodes are protected.
Currently, a commonly used packaging method including coating an organic gel film having the ability to isolate water and oxygen on the organic tandem structure of the OLED apparatus; and followed by forming a hard protective layer, such as glass metal foil, thick poly film, etc. Thus, a packaging structure is formed.
Another commonly used method includes forming a bank or dam around the organic tandem structure of the OLED apparatus after forming the organic tandem structure on a rigid substrate; filling the bank or dam with a liquid filler having the ability to isolate water and oxygen, such as organic monomer, etc.; coating a hard protective layer, such as glass metal foil, thick poly film, etc., over the rigid substrate; and curing the liquid filler by aging, UV-light, or heating, etc. Thus, a packaging structure is formed. The hard layer includes glass, metal foil, or thick polymer film, etc.
FIG. 1 illustrates an existing OLED display panel. As shown in FIG. 1, in a manufacturing process of a curved OLED display panel, such as a large-size curved OLED display panel, a common method is to apply an external force on the substrate 1 and the packaging structure 3 to cause the substrate 1, the organic tandem structure 4 and the packaging structure 3 to bend. For example, the substrate 1 and the packaging structure 3 are pressed into a mold set.
Further, in the existing planar OLED display panel, the substrate 1 is usually made of glass. Thus, the substrate 1 has certain bendability. For the packaging structure 3, a smaller thickness may require smaller external force. When the OLED display panel is being bent, the required strength of the mold set may be smaller if the substrate 1 is made of glass and the packaging structure 3 has a smaller thickness; and it may not require extra thickness to hold the structure of the mold set. Thus, it is not only able to reduce the manufacturing difficulties and the production cost, but also keep the ultra-thin characteristic of the OLED display panel.
However, according to the present disclosure, if the packaging structure 3 is substantially thin, the strength of the packaging structure 3 may be significantly reduced. Further, the path of water and oxygen penetrating into the OLED display panel may be reduced. Thus, the life span of the OLED display panel may be adversely affected. Therefore, how to cause the packaging structure 3 to have a desired bendability and also provide a desired packaging performance to the organic tandem structure 4 has become an urgent task in the field of display technologies.
The disclosed apparatus structures, methods and systems are directed to at least partially solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.